This April 12, 2016
Antiquities
auction at Christie's New York is highlighted by a numerous fine marble
sculptures, a very fine Egyptian bronze falcon and an Egyptian wood
figure of a lady, Middle Kingdom, Early 12th Dynasty.
Lot 5 is a very beautiful Roman marble statue of Venus, circa 1st
Century B.C.-1st Century A.D. Lifesized, the voluptuous goddess
depicted nude, standing with her left
leg slightly advanced, her torso leaning forward causing a crease
across her abdomen, both arms lowered, with a diaphanous mantle draped
diagonally across her legs and over the crook of her right arm, with
folds cascading down her upper right thigh. It is 35 1/2 inches high.

The lot was once with Robin Symes of London and the Royal Athena
Galleries in New York and the current owner acquired in 2001.
The catalogue provides the following commentary:

"Thought to be the very first depiction of the goddess in full nudity,
Praxiteles' original survives only in a multitude of Hellenistic and
Roman interpretations, many of which depict her in various states of
undress. Over-lifesized and finely-sculpted, the present work is a
notable Roman example of the pudica type that seemingly presents a
unique treatment for the drapery. Closest in spirit is the Venus
Menophantos, a 1st century B.C. statue found in the Camaldolese
monastery of San Gregorio al Celio in Rome, and now in the Palazzo
Massimo, Rome, which bears the signature of the sculptor Menophantos.
Like the example presented here, Menophantos' Venus has a mantle
diagonally across her left leg, but it does not extend across her
pudenda to the right arm."
The lot has an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. It sold for $341,000 including the buyer's
premium as do all results mentioned in this article.

Lot
37 is a nice headless Greek marble statue of Aprhodite that is missing
her right arm and left hand. It is from the Hellenistic Period,
circa 2nd - 1st Century B.C. and is 15 inches high.

The catalogue entry provides the following description:

"The goddess standing with her weight on her right leg, her left
slightly advanced and bent at the knee, her himation draped diagonally
in a thick roll across her hips and over her left arm, the drapery
bunched atop an Archaistic statuette of herself, serving as a cushion
for her left elbow, the himation clinging to her legs and falling like
a curtain between her torso and the statuette, her voluptuous torso
nude, an armband worn high on her left arm, the statuette standing upon
a column, wearing a long chiton, her right arm lowered, her left raised
to her breasts, holding an attribute, perhaps an apple, her head
surmounted by a modios; preserving traces of red pigment on the
drapery."

It
has ana estimate of $60,000 to $90,000. It sold for $100,000.

Price Realized is hammer price plus buyer’s premium
and does not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or
seller’s credits.

Lot
58 is a very beautiful, headless Roman marble sculpture of a headless
woman that is circa 2nd Century A.D. It is 62 1/2 inches high.

The arrangement of the drapery recalls that seen
on the "large Herculaneum Woman," named for one of the three marbles
discovered there by Johann Winckelmann in 1755 and now in Dresden. The
type is known from numerous Roman versions, often employed for private
portraiture, but traces its origins to the 4th century B.C.

The lot has an estimate of $60,000 to $90,000. It sold for $60,000.

Price Realized is hammer price plus buyer’s premium
and does not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or
seller’s credits.

Lot
59 is a very nice headless marble Roman sculpture of Venus fromthe 1st
Century-2nd Century A.D. It is 18 1./8 inches high.
The goddess depicted standing with her weight on her left leg, the
right relaxed and slightly bent at the knee, a voluminous diaphanous
chiton enveloping her sensuous body, revealing a slightly protruding
belly, her left breast exposed, with drapery falling over the crook of
her bent left arm, her right arm originally raised. This figure is a
variation of the Aphrodite
Frejus or Venus Genetrix type. Based on a late 5th century B.C. Greek
prototype, it was further popularized in the Julio-Claudian Period, as
Julius Caesar and his successors sought to identify the goddess as
progenitor of their family. Claiming direct descent from the goddess
and Aeneas, Caesar built a temple to Venus Genetrix in his forum in
Rome in 45 B.C. It has an estiamte of $25,000 to $35,000. It sold for $32,500.

Lot
65 is a Roman marble torso of Venus circa 1st-2nd Century A.D. It
is 24 1/2 inches high. The voluptuous goddess depicted nude,
standing with her weight on her
right leg, the left leg slightly advanced, her upper torso subtly
angled forward, her right arm once lowered with the hand covering the
pudenda, adorned with an armband on her left bicep, the remains of her
fingers and a partially-preserved strut on her thighs. The
catalogue entry notes that the position of the arms of the Venus
presented
here suggests she is a version of the Praxiteles statue of Aphrodite of
Knidos. She closely recalls the "Colonna" type, depicted nude, who
leans on her himation which drapes over a hydria. The lot has an
estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $185,000.

Sculpted in high relief, preserving a reclining female figure in back
view, nude but for a mantle draped over her legs and over her proper
left arm on which she leans, her slender body with well-defined
buttocks and an articulated spine, her head dramatically turned and
gazing upwards, with wavy hair bound in a chignon at the nape of her
neck, a wheel, likely from a chariot, preserved in the background and a
snaky tendril, preserved above her abdomen. There is a similar scene from a sarcophagus depicting
the rape of Persephone now in the Capitoline Museum. The lot has a very modest estimate of $7,000 to $9,000. It sold for $20,000.

Lot
66 is an impressive Roman marble panel from a sarcophagus, circa 180
A.D. Itis 57 1/8 inches long and is property of The Morgan
Library & Museum. It has an estimate of $70,000 to
$90,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 14 is a fine bronze horse, Greek Geometric Period, circa 8th Century B.C. It is 3 11/16 inches high. Standing four-square, its legs and tail joined to an openwork integral
plinth perforated with triangles, the stylized stallion with a narrow
tubular body curving up to the croup, with bulging haunches and a thin
elongated tail and legs, the knee joints pronounced, the thin neck with
a sharp broad mane crest, the head with upturned ears, a pointed poll
and a long cylindrical muzzle, with incised bands along the neck and
legs, the genitalia articulated. It has an estimate of $50,000 to $70,000. It sold for $209,000.

Price Realized is hammer price plus buyer’s premium
and does not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or
seller’s credits.

Lot
61 is a very cute Roman bronze Cupid, circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
It is 3 15/16 inches high The catalogue entry notes that "the
pudgy nude youth standing with his left leg advanced, his arms
raised at his sides, holding a shell in his left hand, his right hand
fisted around a partially-preserved attribute, his wavy center-parted
hair arranged in a top-knot, his facial features well defined with
almond-shaped eyes, a small nose and parted lips, his characteristic
wings with articulated feathers." It has a modest estimate of
$6,000 to $8,000. It sold for $12,500.

Lot
40 is a fine Etruscan bronze male votary circa 3rd Century B.C.
It is 6 3/4 inches high. The piece was once with J. J. Klejman in
New York. It has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. It sold for $18,750.

"Superbly sculpted, depicted standing with her feet together, the
separately-made arms at her side and pinned in place with wood dowels,
her long delicate fingers with white-painted nails, wearing a
tightly-fitted sheath dress, revealing the form of her body beneath,
with straps covering her breasts, ornamented with elaborate bracelets
and anklets, her triangular face with inlaid eyes of white and black
stone, presumably alabaster and obsidian, framed in copper, with a
slender nose, a slightly-smiling mouth and a pointed chin, with a
voluminous, striated, tripartite wig, painted black, on a deep integral
plinth pinned in place into the rectangular base, the base painted red
over white, with a black-painted hieroglyphic inscription, the Hetep-di
nesu formula, partially preserved, reading "An invocation of bread
and beer, oxen and fowl, for the Ka of ...hetep, justified."

It is said to have been
excavated by Emile Gaston Chassinat (1868-1948) at Deir el-Durunka,
south of Assiut and to have been owned by Omar Pacha Sulton of Cairo
and Norbert Schimmel of New York. It is property from the estate of
Daniel W. Dietrich II. It was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York from 1974-1977.

The lot has an estimate of $500,000 to $700,000. It sold for $845,000.

Price Realized is hammer price plus buyer’s premium
and does not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or
seller’s credits.